Band Practice
by Ave Summa That
Summary: Lara selects a few others to help her take down evil business woman, Pru Desdemona. - This is a first draft, I need to correct a lot of things, so please r/r!


Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters except Pru Desdemona.  
  
Thanks to Alex for the Tibetan name. It was much better than anything I could come up with!  
  
Please r/r, I need suggestions, comments so I can improve for a second draft. Please make them constructive, I can't really improve a story based on "I don't like this story because it was crap." ;-)  
  
Band Practice  
  
By Miss Natla  
  
It was an evening April, April 17th to be more precise. The setting sun had dyed the sky an array of purples, pinks and oranges, that seemed to give all things of earth a glow, a soft spring glow. A light breeze played in the air, gently swaying the newly grown leaves on the trees. Spring evenings were certainly lovely.  
  
Yet all the people in Lara's living room could do was complain.  
  
"It's so cold outside." Natla moaned, hugging herself.   
  
"Yes, turn the fire on, Lara." Pierre commanded.  
  
"My hair's all messed up from that bloody wind." Sophia was frantically brushing her hair with her fingers.  
  
"Ach, that is nothing." Von Croy was tapping the ground with his walking stick. "In Germany, wind is wind. The leaves are blowing and the hats are flying and..."  
  
""What's the point in evenings anyway?" Larson complained. "Can't the sun just set without havin' to make such an exit?"  
  
Lara blamed their usual surroundings. Natla's homeland, Atlantis, was always warm, which meant anything below 60 degrees brought her out in goose pimples. Sophia, spending all day in an office or in the labs then being driven home to her apartment, never really had to walk anywhere. Von Croy complained about anywhere that wasn't Germany, Pierre complained about anywhere full stop and Larson...well, Larson was a dumb-arse.  
  
"Cup of tea, Ladies? Gentlemen?"  
  
Winston, Lara's aged butler appeared at the door.  
  
"Oh please." Sophia crossed her arms. "Haven't you got anything alcoholic?"  
  
"Some Vodka?" Natla suggested. "I love that stuff."  
  
"Please," Von Croy sighed. "All this English twaddle. In Germany we have real wine..."  
  
"De-caf Latte, non-fat milk." Pierre ordered.  
  
"Oh, yeah, I'll have that cafe fat-milk thing, thanks." Larson agreed.  
  
Winston looked at Lara, confused.  
  
"Tea for all, Winston." Lara said. "And bring some of those rich tea, will you?"  
  
Winston pottered off to the kitchen, leaving Lara alone with her guests. She stood up.  
  
"I'd like to thank you all for making your way here in such appalling weather..."  
  
"Why did you summon us here, Lara?" Natla interrupted.  
  
"Yeah, and why'd'ya take all our weapons?" Larson said, annoyed. "I ain't gonna shoot no-one."  
  
"Larson, much as I need your help right now, I still cannot allow myself to fully trust you. Not after past encounters."  
  
"Wise move." Natla grinned. "I really tagged your hide in Atlantis, didn't I?"  
  
"I was the one that killed you." Lara retorted.  
  
"You wish." Natla laughed.  
  
"Whatever." Lara cleared her throat. "Anyway, as I was saying..."  
  
"Tea." Winston came hobbling back in with a tray, on top of which was a tea-pot and six cups and some rich-tea biscuits. He lay the tray down on the coffee table and began pouring the drinks.  
  
"Damn, that was quick." Larson muttered.  
  
"Thank you, Winston." Lara passed the plate of biscuits around.  
  
"Ach, these English biscuits." Von Croy said, spraying crumbs everywhere. "They are so flimsy and soft. Why, in Germany we have real biscuits, not these poor excuses..."  
  
"Oh, be quiet." Lara signaled for Winston to leave the room. He did. "Right, as I was saying..."  
  
"What's the time?" Larson asked.  
  
"Shut up, Larson." Lara smiled at the group. "I trust you've all heard of Pru Desdemona?"  
  
"That chick with the Nightclub, right?"  
  
"Yes. 'Drowning Indigo'."  
  
"Quite successful, I hear." Sophia examined her nails. "Of course, I've never been there."  
  
"Very successful." Pierre corrected her. "It costs about £50 just to get into the place."  
  
"Have you ever been there?" Natla asked him. Pierre grinned.  
  
"Once."  
  
"What was it like?"  
  
"Odd. Anything went, really. All the staff were painted purple, head to toe. People everywhere, just stripping off, climbing on things, getting on stage and taking instruments from the bands and playing them theirselves...very odd. Oh, and there was one really weird thing..."  
  
"What?"  
  
"In the middle of the room, hanging from the ceiling in a glass box, just out of reach, was this like...jewel thing. It was the deepest purple-blue I've ever seen and the whole room was lit up with it's glow."  
  
"Mmm, yes." Lara was nodding and smiling.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Well..." Lara sat down and leant across the table. "What Pru Desdemona has in her posession is the Sinotwai stone."  
  
"Sino-what?" Larson looked confused.  
  
"Sin-o-twah-ee. A small tribe in Tibet about 1500 years ago. It's seems a star landed in their settlement..."  
  
"Oh, stars, tribes, all those artefact things." Larson snorted. "They're all the same."  
  
Everyone ignored him.  
  
"As I was saying, the Sinotwai tribe considered this star a gift from the gods."  
  
"And was it?" Sophia asked.  
  
"The star had powers."  
  
"Powers...?" Everybody perked up. Lara sighed.  
  
"Complete control over anybody you desire."  
  
"Wow!" Natla's eye's widened. "D'you hear that? Complete control? I mean...wow!"  
  
"Shut up." Lara rubbed her arm. "Anyway...now Pru has it."  
  
"Lucky bitch." Sophia muttered.  
  
"What do you propose we do about it, Lara?" Pierre asked.  
  
"Well, Pierre, I propose we go get it."  
  
"But it's Pru's, ain't it?" Larson protested. "She's got it, fair 'n' square."  
  
"She did not get it "fair and square"." Lara replied. "She broke into a Tomb in Tibet."  
  
"That's what I mean. Fair 'n' square."  
  
"It belongs with the Sinotwai tribe, in their burial place. Not in the hands of that power-crazed lunatic."  
  
"Oh, what would they need it for?" Larson moaned. "They'r'all dead."  
  
"It's the princaple of the matter."  
  
There was a pause. Lara's guests all shot eachother glances apart from Larson, who was trying to turn his biscuit into an "L" shape.  
  
"So, what do you need us for?" Von Croy asked.  
  
Lara hesitated. "Well...Pru knows about me. She'll guess I may come to get it. Which is why I have an undercover idea."  
  
"What?"  
  
Lara smiled. "I want us to form a rock band." 


End file.
